Spartans of Remnant
by Anon8792
Summary: Take four Spartans that haven't seen each other since they were trainees. Add a jaded AI fragment from a defunct UNSC splinter group and a whole mess of experimental armor enhancements. Now mix that in with magical dust and personalized superpowers and what do you get? Four lost and confused kids looking for purpose and direction. Maybe Beacon Academy can help them find that.
1. The Autumn

**Disclaimer: The author does not claim to own the Halo franchise, RWBY, or Red vs. Blue. Halo is the property of 343 Industries, while RWBY and Red vs. Blue belong to Rooster Teeth (Happy Birthday, guys).**

 **Dedicated to Monty Oum. Thank you for being the amazing person you were and for continuing to inspire people. We'll never stop moving forward.**

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Noble Six decided that, as far as shitty days went, today could easily rank somewhere in his Top 3.

The day had started out simply enough. Fight off several dozen waves of murderous aliens, keeping them out of the subterranean lab of one very cranky, snarky and _incredibly_ condescending old woman all while trying to keep himself and his teammates, Emile, Jun and Carter alive. Simple enough work for a Spartan.

Things only started to get complicated when the old woman, who just so happened to be one of the brightest scientific minds in recorded human history, told his team to enter her lab, extract a Package, and get it off of Reach before the Covenant could destroy it.

Noble Team had assumed the package would be the scientist, and this wasn't an unreasonable assumption. Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey was probably the smartest person to have ever been born, _period_. She'd had a hand in almost every major technological advancement or scientific breakthrough over the last three decades, and was directly responsible for both the original SPARTAN-II Program and Project MJOLNIR, the supersoldier program that had given rise to the single greatest fighting force in recorded history and the specialized armor they wore that made them exponentially better fighters. So, of course, it would make sense for the "Good Doctor" to be of enough importance to think she was worth an escort team of Spartans.

She wouldn't have been wrong, but no. As it turned out, this was not the case at all. Halsey hadn't been interested in securing transport for herself. Instead, she wanted Noble to protect and deliver an AI fragment carrying information that, according to Halsey, was beyond critical to the war effort. "A game changer," had been her exact words. The strange part was when Halsey had singled Six out specifically, stating that the fragment had "made her choice".

After exiting the lab, Carter had ordered Jun to accompany Dr. Halsey to ONI's CASTLE Base, the single most well-hidden and heavily defended location on the planet, as far as anyone could tell, while the rest of the team made their way to the nearby UNSC Halcyon-Class cruiser, _Pillar of Autumn_. Halsey had insisted she could handle herself, saying she wouldn't need an escort. However, Carter's intentions were made clearer when he ordered Jun to "make sure nothing falls into enemy hands". Jun only replied by wishing the rest of the team luck on their task, Carter wishing him the same before both Spartans boarded separate Pelicans and took off in separate directions just as a series of remote detonations buried Halsey's lab and everything they couldn't take with them.

That was when things really started to go south, fast. First, the remaining members of Noble Team had been spotted by a Covenant air patrol, who didn't hesitate to engage. Noble was able to destroy the wing of Banshee flyers, but the commotion had attracted the attention of every strike craft in the valley. It was only a matter of time before Noble's Pelican was damaged to the point it wouldn't remain airborne much longer.

To make matters worse, one of the Banshee pilots had landed a ludicrously lucky shot into the Pelican's troop bay, firing into the cockpit and critically wounding Carter, who was quick to order Six and Emile out and onto the ground, opting to use himself to draw attention away from the others so they could make it to the rendezvous point, docked just on the next mesa and within view of the two groundside Spartans. As well as an entire battalion of angry Covenant soldiers and mechanized armor.

Six and Emile had managed to either avoid or wipe out most of the resistance they came across, but when a Covenant Scarab walker spotted them, Carter drove his Pelican straight into the behemoth's side, sacrificing himself for the sake of the mission, and his team. He never hesitated. Six had to admit, even if only to himself, he admired that kind of bravery.

After fighting their way through several of the reclamation plants that overlooked the valley the UNSC had used as a ship breaking and recycling yard, the Spartans finally arrived at the landing pad the _Autumn's_ Captain, the legendary Jacob Keyes, had designated.

Of course, things weren't that simple. As it happened, the Covenant had chosen that exact moment to launch a full scale assault on the pad with everything they had to spare. Keyes wouldn't be able to claim the Package until the pad and the airspace around it were clear, so the last survivors of Noble Team would have to fight off the Covenant forces in their entirety.

The battle was long, painful and draining, Emile having taken position on a nearby Onager MAC platform to deal with Covenant dropships and fighters, leaving Six to fight off wave after wave of Covenant ground forces. The only real saving grace was that the area around the pad was too small for the Covenant to deploy any attack vehicles. That, combined with some covering fire courtesy of the _Autumn's_ point defense guns, allowed Six to stave off the Covenant's assault until their reinforcements finally ran dry.

As he withdrew his knife from the skull of the last Covenant soldier, Six radioed Keyes and gave him the all clear.

"Noble to Keyes," Six called over comms, "the pad is clear of hostiles. You are clear to make your approach, over."

" _Copy that Spartan,"_ Keyes replied, _"I'm on my way. Keyes out."_

Satisfied, Six took that time to catch his breath. While the fight itself had offered nothing too terribly draining, he had been in and out of dozens of firefights over the last few hours. As a result, he was exhausted. He may have been able to fight longer and harder than an entire squad of marines, but even Spartans had their limits, and Six could feel that he was very close to his. As he was waiting for Keyes' Pelican to reach the pad, Six was shaken from his recuperation by his comm unit crackling to life.

" _Hell of a job down there Six,"_ Emile said, _"Couldn't have done it better myself."_

Six scoffed lightly. "Wow, that almost sounded like a compliment," he teased. "You're not going soft on me are you?"

" _Don't get full of yourself kid,"_ he shot back. _"You may outrank me, but that don't mean I won't still kick your ass if you step outta line. I'm the senior member of Noble."_

Before Six could reply, the steadily approaching roar of VTOL thrusters pulled his attention to a pair of Pelicans rapidly approaching. Keyes had arrived. Over comms, Emile let out a short sigh before speaking up again.

" _All right Six, this is it."_ Emile said, his tone lacking the usual bite. _"Get the Package to Keyes, then get the hell off this planet."_

That immediately set off an alarm in Six's head. He knew what Emile was saying, and Six wasn't having it. He had already bore witness to the deaths of three of Noble Team's number, there was no way in hell he was going to leave a fourth to die when he could do something about it. However, before Six could give voice to his thoughts, Keyes' Pelican touched down, the troop bay door opening and the Captain himself stepping out.

On instinct, Six snapped off a crisp salute and reached around to grab the containment unit locked to his lower back, offering the Package to the approaching senior officer.

"Good to see you, Spartan," Keyes began, taking possession of the Package. "Halsey assured me I could count on you."

"Not just me, sir." Six clarified. The Captain's praise caused Six to reflect on not just that day's events, but those of the past month, since the Covenant had first been discovered and engaged by Noble Team at the Visegrad Relay Outpost. Every sacrifice, every life spent in service to the continued survival of the human race, all leading up to this moment. To say the cost was enormous would be a colossal understatement. To not even acknowledge those sacrifices… that was a disservice. Fortunately, the Captain agreed.

"They'll be remembered," he replied, placing a reassuring hand on the much taller Spartan's arm. Six could only hope that what the man said was true, but considering what the Covenant had just done to Reach, humanity's second most powerful world next to Earth, he had his doubts. For the first time in his career, for the first time in his _life_ , Six doubted whether or not humanity had any chance of winning; doubted whether or not everything he had ever done, endured or witnessed actually amounted to anything.

Six shook those thoughts away, violently. He couldn't think like that. Even if humanity lost the war, even if the Covenant succeeded in rendering them extinct, he would fight. He would fight and he would make certain that the Covenant never forgot how a technologically and numerically inferior race held them back for almost thirty years. In this way, at least, humanity would live on regardless of the outcome of the war. His resolve set, Six prepared to follow Keyes back to the _Autumn_ , determined to continue the fight and ready to drag Emile along with him even if he had to physically drag the man. That is, until he noticed the look of alarm flash over the Captain's face as he looked into the sky just over Six's shoulder.

"Cruiser!" Keyes called out, broadcasting over comms so Emile, still in the gunner's seat overlooking the platform, could hear. "Adjusting heading for the _Autumn_!"

Glancing up, Six saw it too, and his heart plummeted. In the distance, a Covenant Battlecruiser emerged from the clouds. The 1500 meter warship easily dwarfed, outclassed and outgunned its human counterpart, leaving the _Autumn_ with no real chance. The only hope for escape would be to somehow kill the Battlecruiser…or distract it.

"Noble Four I need fire on that cruiser or we're not getting out of here," Keyes ordered, noticeable urgency in his tone. "Do you copy?"

" _You'll have your window, sir,"_ came Emile's simple, stoic reply.

At that moment, Six understood Emile's earlier words. From his raised elevation, Emile probably saw the cruiser as it initially changed course. The Captain wouldn't have seen it, nor would anyone aboard the _Autumn_ , the canyon walls that surrounded them were too high. But the Onager cannon had been placed at a higher elevation. Emile had seen the cruiser, evaluated the situation, and come to the same realization that Keyes had: unless Emile could somehow draw the cruiser's attention away from the _Autumn_ , no one would make it.

Six wanted to say something, apologize maybe for the way things had turned out. By the time he found the words, the cannon was already moving into position. Before he could say anything, Keyes called his attention.

"Lieutenant…it's time to go," Keyes stated. Six, for the first time in years, hesitated, casting one last look towards the MAC before moving to join Keyes aboard the Pelican. The distinctive whirring of a Phantom's engines stopped him in his tracks. Sure enough, a Phantom shot up from the canyon's depths, well below the sight line of the Onager, and let loose a salvo of explosive plasma rounds, crippling the escort Pelican and sending it careening into the landing pad…and right towards Six.

With a shout, the Spartan dove out of the way, narrowly avoiding being crushed as the Pelican skidded off the pad and into chasm below. As Six hit the metal grating, he tucked hard and rolled back to his feet, reaching over his shoulder for his DMR. Six took aim at the Covenant dropship continuing towards the Onager… only to notice that the weapon's scope had been flattened and the barrel was bent at a noticeable angle.

Disgusted at this turn of events, Six tossed the now useless weapon over the edge of the pad, only to be caught off guard as one of the Phantom's side gunners opened up on him, forcing him to the ground. Raising his head, he watched the Phantom hover over the control booth for the massive cannon, dropping off a single, red armored Elite Zealot onto the glass. Zealots were notoriously dangerous amongst the ranks of the Covenant, often fighting on near equal footing with Spartans. Of course, not all Spartans fought the same, as evidenced by the shotgun blast that erupted from the control booth, shredding the saurian warrior's shields and hurtling it onto its back.

Rising from the booth, Emile pumped his shotgun, chambering another round before taking aim at his stunned and startled foe. The 8-guage buckshot overwhelmed what was left of the Zealot's shields, chewing through the warrior's armor, popping the Elite's head like an over-ripened melon... stuffed with firecrackers.

Pumping his weapon again, Emile reveled in his victory. "WHO'S NEXT?" he challenged. His answer was the twin prongs of high intensity plasma that erupted from his chest, as another Zealot snuck up behind him and stabbed the Spartan in the back.

Believing its target had been dealt with, the Zealot grabbed Emile by the head and roared in triumph, only to be silenced by the barely alive Spartan driving his kukri into the Elite's neck.

"I'M READY! HOW 'BOUT YOU?!" He screamed, his last breath dripping with defiance.

As the Elite died, both it and Emile fell off of the Onager and out of view, several ragged breathes sounding out over the radio before everything went silent.

' _No…that's not how it was supposed to happen,'_ Six thought. He honestly couldn't believe it. While he had never considered himself and Emile to be friends, he had held a begrudging respect for the man's ability in battle. Too see him go out like that, taken out by a sneak attack, it was an insult to Emile's love of combat.

"Lieutenant! Get aboard! We gotta get the hell outta here!" a Marine called, reaching out to pull the Spartan into the troop bay of Keyes' Pelican. Shaking his head, Six came crashing back into the reality of the situation. Without Emile in the gunner's position, the _Autumn_ had no covering fire and wouldn't make orbit. There was still a chance, though. If he could get up to the Onager in time, he would be able to divert the Covenant cruiser long enough for the _Autumn_ to take off.

"Negative," Six said, having made up his mind. "I have the gun. Good luck, sir." Keyes could only cast Six a sorrowful and apologetic look before replying.

"Good luck to you, Spartan." With that said, the Captain turned to the pilot and ordered the Pelican back to the ship as Six started sprinting across the pad, moving towards the set of stairs that would take him up to the Onager position.

Reaching the top, he barreled through the door to the next level of the complex, only to stop short and dive for cover behind a crate as a barrage of plasma bolts pelted where he had been not a moment ago. Sparing a glance, Six was able to get a good view of his attackers. A standard squad of a half dozen Grunts were waddling down the next flight of stairs with a pair of Jackals moving to flush him out, their Point Defense Gauntlets flaring up as a pair of brilliant blue, circular shields snapped into existence.

Looking out the door he had just come through, Six saw that the Covenant cruiser had slowed down. That was not a good sign, it meant that they were almost in range to attack. He estimated he had less than two minutes to reactivate the Onager or… well, he tried not to think about that.

Deciding the Jackals were the more immediate threat, Six ripped his last frag grenade off his belt, pushed the activator, and skipped it across the grated floor, coming to rest just behind the unsuspecting pair. With a solid bang, the grenade sent bits of the avian creatures flying across the room, some of it coating a Grunt unlucky enough to be at the head of the pack. The loss of their superiors, as always, caused the methane breathing aliens to fall into a panic.

Before they could recover, Six vaulted over the crate, sidearm in hand, and double tapped one of the still dazed Grunts. His first shot ruptured its methane pack, the highly explosive gas leaking out and causing the alien to panic even more as his air supply spread amongst the squad. Six's next shot ignited the gas, consuming the entire squad in a fireball.

" _Cruiser, moving into position,"_ Keyes' voice crackled over the radio. _"I need it dead!"_

The urgency in the Captain's tone got Six moving, ascending the next flight of stairs three at a time. As he rounded the next corner he very nearly lost his head as an Elite Zealot decloaked and took a swipe at him with an energy sword.

Six ducked, but didn't stop. Instead, he rammed the saurian warrior, charged towards the railing overlooking the rest of the canyon, and shoved. The Elite's surprise at Six's bold and decisively stupid action was replaced by shocked horror as its lower knees collided with the railing, sending it tumbling end over end into the chasm below, bellowing in anguish all the while. Had it been any other time, he would have indulged the fanatical lizard and engaged it in a one on one duel. But right now, he was tired, frustrated and pressed for time.

The last threat dealt with, Six scrambled up the final flight of stairs and onto the Onager, sparing a glance to Emile's still form as he ascended the ladder and grabbed the controls for the MAC.

By the time Six had brought the massive gun to bear, the Cruiser's shields had irised, providing the ship's devastating energy projector a firing lane; and giving Six the opening he needed to fire a kill shot.

He didn't hesitate. Pulling the trigger, the magnetic coils charged and drove a hypersonic round into the belly of the beast with the force of a meteor. The effects were immediate and devastating, the Cruiser's midsection disappeared as a small sun briefly engulfed the vessel, causing Six to turn away as his visor automatically polarized in an attempt to protect his vision from the glare.

When the light finally died down, the Cruiser was spewing flames and molten bits of deck plating, the engines sputtering and lights flickering as the ship struggled to maintain altitude. Not a half second later, Six hailed the Captain.

"Noble to Keyes, Cruiser is down and your exit is clear; GO NOW!"

" _Good guns, Spartan,"_ Keyes congratulated. _"All hands, prepare for castoff."_ At the Captain's order, the _Autumn_ 's massive engines ignited. The titanic vessel lifted off the mesa and made a hard burn into orbit, climbing rapidly until the glow of its engines were nothing but tiny pin-pricks of light before vanishing altogether. Six continued to stare after it, watching, waiting, for _any_ kind of sign that the ship, its crew and precious cargo had made it. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, his patience was rewarded.

" _This is the_ Pillar of Autumn _,"_ Keyes' voice crackled over the radio. _"We are away. The Package is with us."_ Hearing this, Six released the breath he didn't even realize he was holding before beginning to chuckle under his breath in disbelief.

His chuckling eventually petered out, giving way to deep, heavy breaths as the exhaustion of the day finally caught up to the Spartan. Six took a few minutes to catch his breath. With the _Autumn_ gone, the Covenant wouldn't be as active in the area. Or, at least he hoped they wouldn't. Although, he had just blown an entire Battlecruiser out of the sky… not to mention the waves of special operatives that wouldn't be reporting in.

With that in mind, Six decided that it would probably be smarter to get moving. He was quite a ways out from CASTLE Base, and the terrain around him was almost completely open. But if he was quick, careful and ridiculously lucky, he might be able to make it.

' _Who knows? Might even be able to link up with Jun and Halsey. But first…'_

Descending the ladder, Six stopped to examine Emile's body, slumped against the railing overlooking the landing pad. Kneeling before the man, Six shook his head and moved to remove his helmet, but stopped at the last minute. Instead, he released the seal on the other Spartan's helmet and felt around the back of the man's neck. Finding what he was looking for, he reached around and removed Emile's dog tags with a swift yank.

Looking them over, Six turned back to his fallen teammate. Resetting the seal on Emile's helmet, Six got to work laying the man out in a more dignified position, crossing the man's arms over his chest, hands meeting over his heart.

Looking around, Six found the body of the Zealot that had killed Emile crumpled in a broken heap a few feet away, the Spartan's kukri still embedded in the alien's neck. Walking over, Six grabbed the angled knife's handle and pulled, the blade coming free with surprisingly little resistance.

"You always did keep this thing sharp," he chuckled, walking back to Emile. Carefully, he placed the grip of the blade under the dead man's hands, closing his fingers around the handle.

"I admit it. I never liked you Emile," Six confessed, giving the man an impromptu eulogy. "You were brash, you were arrogant, hell, you were hostile and aggressive to everything and everyone we came across. But despite that, you were one of the most fearless men I've ever met. And in the end, you didn't hesitate to take on what you knew was a death sentence. For that, you have my respect."

Rising to his feet, Six thought it best to finish up.

"Rest in Peace, Spartan," Six said, casting his gaze onto the now destroyed Cruiser burning amongst the decommissioned husks of UNSC vessels. "Sorry about stealing your kill."

"Oh, and your shotgun," he added, stooping down to retrieve said weapon. "Hope you don't mind. I accidentally crushed my DMR when that Pelican almost flattened me, and I don't feel like fighting off the entire Covenant Army with just a pistol and a couple of knives."

Finishing his impromptu funeral with a crisp salute, Six turned to depart, pausing only briefly to use his wrist computer to get a heading before he made his way down into the boneyard and off towards CASTLE Base.

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 **To those of you that make it this far, thank you for taking the time to read this. To those of you who take the time to offer a review, thank you for that as well.**


	2. Boneyard Breakout

As it turned out, descending into a ship graveyard that, not even ten minutes earlier had been the site of a massive skirmish between desperate human forces and a near endless onslaught of alien warriors was a really stupid idea. Even more so when you had managed to piss off the victorious aliens and stir them into a violent frenzy by knocking one of their ships out of the air and directly on top of them.

Six scrambled into cover as searing bolts of white-hot plasma impacted the aging and rusted frame of a decommissioned cruiser he had ducked into in an attempt to lose his pursuers. Needless to say, it was pretty much a wasted effort; the Covenant had swarmed the lot almost as soon as he had arrived, and they had brought a surprisingly sizable hunting party.

Infantry from nearly every member species had dogged him from one derelict to another, in addition to various rapid and light assault craft ranging from the pesky Ghost to the rarer but much more intimidating Brute Chopper. Actually, considering how mad the aliens seemed, Six was a little surprised that they hadn't brought in heavier units like Hunters or their massive walker platforms yet.

Six stooped into a low crouch and coiled the muscles in his legs, ready to bolt down the corridor lit only by the discharge of energy weaponry the moment one of the fanatical aliens overheated their weapons. As expected, an Elite Minor was a little too zealous in its attempt to slay the Spartan, its plasma repeater fizzling out as the cooling veins and panels opened along the frame to prevent the weapon from detonating in its operator's hands. Not willing to waste the opportunity, Six pushed off the ground with all his might, sprinting down the empty hallway and tossing a grenade over his shoulder to buy himself a little more time.

Judging by the numerous detonations, he did a little more than slow down his pursuers. If he had to guess, his grenade had managed to set off at least two or three of the alien soldiers' own explosives. If his luck held out, he had wiped out the entire squad, buying himself maybe two minutes to find a new place to hole up before the next squad tracked him down.

He had made several admittedly stupid decisions over the course of the day. He wasn't afraid to admit that. He also knew that attempting to hide and wait for his unwanted pursuers to lose interest was a complete waste of time. Instead, he was putting as much distance between himself and the Covenant as he could to try and devise a plan of escape. At the moment, his best bet was to try and hijack a vehicle and run like hell. But even then, the only options available would leave him exposed to attack while careening wildly along the uneven terrain.

Six's planning came to a screeching halt as a pair of Elite Ultras walked out of an adjoining hallway. Unable to stop before running into them, he shouldered Emile's shotgun and sighted on the closer of the two, pulling the trigger once in range. The resulting kick from the weapon violently dropped Six onto his ass, the Elite had it much worse, its entire torso vanishing in a fine purple mist. Emile's favorite gun had clearly seen more than its fair share of aftermarket modifications—all of which were, knowing Noble Four, _probably_ illegal. Propping himself back up, he was met with the sight of one Ultra, painted purple with the entrails of his comrade.

The Elite recovered first, belting out a roar as it leveled its plasma rifle and pulled the trigger. Six braced himself, expecting to be bathing in plasma, but instead the weapon sparked violently in the hands of its owner, prompting it to toss the weapon across the corridor before it detonated in a spectacular flash that blinded both warriors.

This time Six recovered first, thanks in part to his helmet polarizing to compensate for the harsh light. Quickly rolling back over his shoulder, Six fell into a crouch to better compensate for the insane recoil of Emile's weapon, he pumped another shell into the chamber and pulled the trigger. Unfortunately the Elite was also quick to recover and rolled out of the way of the buckshot. Six cursed under his breath as he once again pumped the shotgun, and once again, the Elite leapt out of the way of the spread, using its species' powerful digitigrade legs to quickly evade and close the distance with the Spartan.

With a flick of the wrist, the Ultra ignited its energy dagger, a small energy blade more compact than the two-pronged sword Elites were known to utilize. The Elite swung and Six leapt back, managing to skirt just out of reach of the blade. Unfortunately the Elite was able to connect with Emile's shotgun, and Six found himself holding two halves of a once-mighty weapon. He wasn't entirely sure, but Six guessed that the creature had its species' equivalent of a triumphant smirk on its face as it backed out of reach, choosing caution over aggression in its duel with the Spartan.

Tossing the now useless weapon aside, Six drew the knife from the sheath bolted onto his chest plate and held it before him in a defensive stance. This action elicited a change in the Elite's body language, the saurian warrior looking almost excited at the prospect of a proper duel. However, this confrontation was not meant to be, as the bulkhead beside the Elite exploded, sending the alien flying into the opposite wall where it fell into a broken heap, its neck clearly broken by the impact.

Six managed a surprised blink before slowly sheathing his knife and cautiously approaching the new hole in the wall, the edges still glowing from what was probably an impact by a powerful energy weapon. A series of blasts rocked the derelict cruiser, prompting Six to abandon caution in favor of investigating this new hurdle in his attempts to plan an escape.

Casting his gaze out over the ship graveyard, Six saw a dozen blue spheres, each roughly the size of a car arching toward him over the shell of a rusted out passenger liner. Six bolted out of the cruiser, sprinting with all his might toward the next available derelict vessel as multiple plasma mortars struck the side of the ship, collapsing multiple decks of the empty vessel.

Not even halfway to the next temporary shelter, a distinctive, low-pitched droning noise filled Six's ears. From the East, a quartet of Banshees swooped in, strafing the ground around him and forcing him to retreat back to the cruiser.

Pushing further into the ship, he cast a glance to his motion tracker, not willing to be blindsided again. Satisfied that he was clear for now, he stooped low as he tried to catch his breath, while adding these new variables into his escape plan. The Wraith mortar tanks would have made a ground escape incredibly dangerous and difficult to pull off, but nowhere near impossible. The Banshees, though? Those did make ground escape impossible.

Of course they also granted him an opportunity. Hijacking one would be child's play for him, assuming they stuck to established patterns and he could get his hands on a working plasma pistol, and because of his experience as a pilot, he was confident he could eliminate the other three Banshees without too much trouble. The altitude and speed the strike craft could achieve would effectively negate nearly any threat from the ground that was currently deployed.

The only hiccup with this forming plan was that, no matter how high or how fast he flew, all any of the Covenant on the ground had to do was report his heading and he would run into the entire goddamned fleet. If he was going to make it out of here, he would need to either A) Kill everything else in the boneyard, or B) Somehow obscure his escape from prying eyes. If he was being honest, neither of those options were really feasible. Sure, with air superiority he could wipe out all ground forces with minimal risk to himself. However, once he started, the Covenant would call for more air support or start dropping off anti-air units. As for escaping unseen, he would basically need to blanket the area in enough smoke to choke a small city, something he couldn't do with the resources he had on hand.

Another series of detonations rocked the derelict as the Wraiths fired another volley in an attempt to flush him out. Outside the ship, a loud crash sounded as a section of the barren vessel fell to the ground and Six's eyes widened as an idea struck him.

After he had knocked the Covenant Battlecruiser out of the air, it had kicked up a massive amount of dust and sand. The resulting cloud hadn't stayed in the air very long, but it had stretched for miles very quickly. The rapidly deteriorating derelict he was huddled in wouldn't generate a cloud of quite the same scale, but if enough of the superstructure collapsed, it might just be enough to disguise his escape. There was no way for him to do the damage himself, even with a Banshee's heavy fuel rod cannon, but the Wraiths' constant bombardment would be more than enough. Judging by the relatively constant volleys, they would bring his temporary shelter down in minutes, meaning he had to move fast.

With his plan set, he retraced his steps back to where he had last seen a Covenant squad and began scavenging their supplies. Their entire stock of grenades was, as expected, gone, but he did manage to find a working plasma pistol. The charge level was…really low, actually. He'd have one, _maybe_ two good shots, but he was confident that he could hit a Banshee with an overcharge and disable it. Another series of detonations signaled Six's rapidly depleting time frame, forcing him to make do with what he had.

Working his way out of the ship, he drew his M6G service pistol and started scanning the sky for his quarry. Once he spotted one of the Banshees, he emptied the magazine at it to draw its attention. He didn't have to wait long before it angled toward him and began strafing his position with its medium plasma cannons.

Backing as far as he could into cover while still remaining in the pilot's sight, he drew his salvaged plasma pistol and held the trigger. Between the two prongs of the weapon, a brilliant green orb of energy manifested and began growing, growing more unstable as more and more energy poured into it. When the charging bolt reached peak brilliance, he spun out of cover and fired the shot. The Banshee, unable to avoid in time, flew right into it and the moment the unstable bolt made contact with the ship, the magnetic field surrounding the plasma detonated, washing over the craft and overloading all of its systems.

Six took off in a dead sprint towards the Banshee. The EMP from the overcharge would only last a few seconds, and he needed to be in position before it wore off. When he was within reach of the disabled craft, he put everything he had into his legs and jumped, grabbing one of the Banshee's wing struts as it passed overhead. A strangled cry escaped his throat as the Banshee's momentum nearly pulled his arm out of the socket, but he maintained his grip as power was finally restored to the craft and the pilot pulled up in time to avoid colliding with the massively compromised cruiser.

As the pilot pulled away, the Wraiths let loose another volley, and finally the old derelict had had enough. Deck after deck collapsed in on each other as pieces of the once mighty vessel fell heavily to the earth, kicking up a massive artificial dust storm that shrouded everything in darkness. Not willing to let the opportunity pass, Six swung himself up onto the main body of the craft and hit the external canopy release. The surprised look on the Elite pilot's face was extremely gratifying as Six planted his boot into its face, swinging himself into the Banshee and closing the canopy before gunning the throttle. By the time the dust settled, the Covenant would only find a collapsed frame of a decommissioned warship, two dozen squads of their own dead soldiers, and an Elite pilot killed by a high fall.

Six was kilometers away before he allowed himself to breathe easy again. After flying as fast as he dared for ten minutes, he hadn't seen a single hostile contact on radar, at least none that were taking an obvious interest in him. Six dropped altitude and speed after he was sure he was relatively safe. Checking his HUD, he found himself unfortunately flying in the exact opposite direction of CASTLE Base, and let loose a heavy frustrated sigh. It would be a pain in the ass, but he could swing wide around the area he had just come from and avoid the Covenant forces probably still searching for him.

Just as he was about to change course, the dashboard exploded, and he found himself plummeting out of the air. The craft's display was ruined, but whatever had hit him had left a decent sized hole in the front of the craft, allowing him an excellent view of the mountain he was now careening into. Six jostled the controls and was unsurprised to find them completely unresponsive. That left him with one option: Bail out.

Popping the canopy, he leapt out of the doomed aircraft and collided heavily into the slope of a foothill, rolling painfully until he finally came to a hard stop against a rock. Six let out a low groan as he lay there, waiting for his vision to stop spinning and cursed his luck for the thousandth time. It seemed like every time things started to go well for him, the universe threw a wrench into the works and everything went to shit.

" _Hey! You alive over there, Spartan?"_ a garbled, feminine voice crackled over his radio and Six jolted to his feet, arms automatically rising into a standard guard, though slightly unbalanced due to his disorientation. _"Still got some life in you? That's good. Look, I realize you probably have some hang ups about helping people that shoot at you, sorry about that, but we could really use a hand. My team and I are holed up in an ONI bunker about a click north of you, and the Covenant are hitting us hard. We need you to help us repel these guys. ONI Security may have a bunch of fancy toys, but they're next to useless in a straight fight, so haul ass."_ Before Six could say a word, the mysterious caller disconnected, and he was left to contemplate the unusual situation he now found himself in.

He was stranded in the mountains surrounding Asźod hundreds of kilometers from CASTLE Base after an unknown party had destroyed his only method of transport, though apparently unintentionally. This unknown party apparently had access to UNSC encrypted comms and were in critical danger from Covenant forces. And the cherry on top was that the individual that had shot him down was asking for his help. Either this was a legitimate request for aid and he could rest and resupply in a semi-secure ONI site, or this was an elaborate trap set up by desperate survivors who intended to kill him and claim what little he had.

Six shook his head at the thought; if these people had wanted him dead, they would have shot him while he was dazed after his fall. However, he also knew exactly what people stranded on Covenant occupied worlds were capable of. Regardless, he could hear the sounds of battle coming from the direction that had been pointed out, so that part at least seemed true. Ultimately though, he knew what he should do.

Jogging as quickly as he could along the uneven terrain toward the battle, he hoped that he wasn't making a mistake by getting involved. For now, he decided, it would be prudent to at least scope out the battle. Besides, now that he really thought about it, there was something about the speaker's voice that was nagging at him. She sounded…familiar.


End file.
